Slain Batangas mayor’s aide, trader ‘abducted’ in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY — A wealthy businessman who became controversial for his links to former Tanauan City, Batangas mayor Antonio Halili and due to allegations his family was involved in illegal activities, was abducted in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna province, police said Thursday.

Allan Fajardo and his companion Ricky Atienza were reportedly abducted around 8 p.m. Wednesday by a group of men while the two were at a four-star hotel in Nuvali district, said Lt. Col. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson of the Calabarzon police.

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She said the victims were forced into a white van which police are tracking down.

Fajardo, who owned a scrapping busines, used to lead Halili’s controversial Mayor’s Anti-Crime Group that arrested and “paraded” petty criminals in Tanauan City for the mayor’s “shame campaign.”

He was also being linked to the illegal drug trade which sources said had put Halili on President Duterte’s list of narcopoliticians.

Halili had denied this until his death. He was gunned down in July 2018 during a flag-raising ceremony at the Tanauan city hall.

Meanwhile, Fajardo’s older brother, Rolando, was the suspected leader of a kidnap group behind the 1986 abduction of Japanese trader Noboyuki Wakaoji.

Another brother, Polmark, served as the village chief of Suplang in Tanauan City.

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